


home to you

by thisissirius



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Family Feels, M/M, Siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 22:02:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8464654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisissirius/pseuds/thisissirius
Summary: “Excuse me?” Robert leans on the counter. “I’m here for parents’ evening?”

  One of the women doesn’t look up, but the other gives him a wide smile. “Name?”

  “Robert Sugden, uh, here for Olivia Flaherty?”
parents evening brings with it its own problems - and solutions. family feelings.





	

**Author's Note:**

> so. this was prompted on tumblr by hissing-miseries. hope this is what you were looking for :)
> 
> H U G E thanks to @imaginentertain without whom this story probably wouldn't exist. all of the school information stuff is thanks to them and i am so grateful! they're also responsible for some of liv's reactions ;) (thank you, thank you, thank you). also still hoping i get that robert actually following through with the contact fic ;)
> 
> enjoy :D

The car park at the school is busy; Robert usually pulls up outside, Liv sitting on the low brick wall that surrounds the entrance, but this time he has to park up. Back when he was at school, the handful of times he could remember his father having to come in for parents’ evening were flashes of random meeting, scoldings, and scarcely seeing another set of parents. 

Grabbing his wallet and phone from the passenger seat, he double checks to make sure there’s no text from Aaron — still delayed, then — and locks his car. It’s just before five, the time he and Aaron are scheduled in, so he heads for the reception. There are helpful signs pointing the way, as if Robert hasn’t done this walk a thousand times or more himself. Nothing about the school ever changes, and it makes Robert uncomfortable enough that he hopes the teaching staff are different at least. 

Liv’s waiting in the entrance hall, sitting on one of the cushioned chairs, her phone in hand. It’s her after school football club on Wednesdays, something he’s glad she picked up. Usually Robert has to finish early on the days Aaron’s on a scrap run, making sure Liv’s collected and entertained. He doesn’t mind most of the time, but he appreciates having a break every now and then, so she can take on all the after-school stuff she wants to.

“Football alright then?” 

“Finally,” Liv says, barely reacting to his presence. Charming. “I thought you’d never get here.”

“I’m fifteen minutes early, actually,” Robert informs her with a look. He peers into the main hall where there are rows of chairs and tables set out, some already occupied, others surrounded by teachers waiting to take their seats. “You’re one of the first?”

Liv looks behind him, back towards the entrance. “Where’s Aaron?”

Robert shrugs, slipping his phone out of his pocket. Nothing. “Late. He’s coming, though,” he adds, as her face falls. 

“Whatever.” Liv grabs her backpack from the floor. “I guess we should get this over with.”

It feels weird to be going in without Aaron. “Do I have to sign in or anything?”

“Yeah,” Liv says, gesturing at the all too familiar window to the reception. There are two women working at computers, an open folder of time slot allocations on the desk. 

“Excuse me?” Robert leans on the counter. “I’m here for parents’ evening?”

One of the women doesn’t look up, but the other gives him a wide smile. “Name?”

“Robert Sugden, uh, here for Olivia Flaherty?”

The woman looks from Robert to Liv and then back. “Just one moment.”

Robert checks his phone once more. If Aaron’s driving, he rarely texts back, but it would be nice to know Robert’s not going to be on his own with this one. 

“I’m sorry,” the woman starts, sliding out of her chair. “I don’t have you down on her list of contacts.”

“Sorry?” Robert says, frowning. 

“I can’t let you in to speak with her teachers. I only have an Aaron Dingle and Chas Dingle down. If one of them could get here —?”

Liv tenses beside Robert, so he puts a hand on her shoulder. Ignoring him, Liv rests her hands on the counter. “This is stupid! Robert lives with me, he knows everything, why can’t you just tell him?”

“Liv,” Robert says, stern. It’s turning into one of her famous blowouts, and he’s not in the mood to run damage control, especially not here. He turns back to Mary. “I don’t understand. I’m Aaron’s fiancé — wouldn’t that entitle me to know?”

“I’m sorry,” Mary says. To her credit, she does look apologetic. “There’s nothing I can do. I can call the Head for you to speak to, but can’t let you in, I’m sorry.”

This is a bad idea. Liv is still tense, coiled like a spring, so Robert puts a hand on her shoulder. “Leave it, Liv.”

“No! I don’t understand why they won’t tell you anything, it’s not like you’re a stranger.” Liv glares angrily at Mary — who is obviously well acquainted with vitriol, if the look of false cheer is any indication. “He’s my guardian too!”

“Actually I’m not,” Robert tells her softly, though he’s pretty sure she knows that. “Liv, she’s just doing her job.”

“I don’t care,” Liv snaps. “It’s a piece of paper, it should already have your name on it, can’t they just put it on now?”

Mary’s standing awkwardly next to the window, pen running through her fingers. Robert feels somewhat sorry for her, even if he’s irritated. “I really am sorry. If Mr. Dingle gives you permission, then—”

“He will! Just call him, would ya?”

The door bangs open behind them, and Robert looks over his shoulder to see Aaron hovering in the doorway, looking tired. He seems to sober as soon as he sees them, eyes snapping to Liv. “What have ya done now?”

“Me?” Liv snaps, gesturing wildly at the reception desk. “They won’t let Robert in to talk to anyone. He’s not down on some list or summat.”

Without waiting to see Aaron’s reaction, Robert turns back to Mary. “He’s here now. Can I go in with him, or is that not allowed either?”

“That’s allowed,” Mary says, peering around the partition so that she can see Aaron. “Are you Mr. Dingle?”

“I am,” Aaron agrees. “Do you need ID or summat?”

Mary sighs, placing the pen on the counter. “It’s Local Authority policy, Mr. Dingle.”

“—what does that even _mean_ ,” Liv mutters — 

“—as I’m sure you can appreciate, we can’t just let anyone come into school.”

Liv looks geared up to say something else. She’s formidable when she gets going, Robert’s been in enough fights with her to know. It’s impressive, but right now it’s not going to serve any purpose other than to get them thrown out of the school. 

Thankfully, Mary’s eyes slide from Aaron to Liv. “I understand that family situations are quite difficult at times. We rely on parents to keep us informed.”

“See?” Liv snaps, turning her anger on Aaron. “If you actually told them Rob was living with us—”

“Liv,” Robert says, because Aaron always has a reason. He’s aware that his track record with trust isn’t stellar, and can understand why Aaron might not want him involved in huge decisions where Liv’s concerned. 

Liv must hear something in his voice, because she clamps her mouth shut. 

Oblivious to the tension, Mary gives Aaron a smile. “The school works in line with that policy. We can only let in people who are listed on Olivia’s contact sheet. If you’d like to add Mr. Sugden then all you need to do is fill in a form.”

Aaron, who’s remained staunchly silent during the whole exchange, nods. He’s looking between Robert and Liv, like he doesn’t know who to talk to first. 

Mary’s busy digging through the trays at the end of her desk, oblivious to the tension between the three people the other side of the reception window. She brandishes a sheet of paper. “If you indicate how much information we can give him, whether he can pick her up during school days, and if we can contact him if there’s any emergency. Once that’s done, you’re free to go in.”

She retreats to her desk, leaving the form and a pen on the counter. Robert stares at it, jaw tight. The moment feels heavy, thick with _something_ , but he doesn’t know what. Beside him, Liv’s tense, eyes on the floor. Aaron breaks the silence, touching his fingers to Robert’s elbow.

“Sorry I’m late.”

“Is that what you’re going to say?” Liv says, louder than she means to. Robert can see both Mary and her co-worker trying not to listen in. “You’re not going to talk about the fact that you don’t want him to know stuff! That, or Robert doesn’t care—”

“Liv,” Aaron snaps. 

“I care!” Robert says, simultaneously. “Liv, what are you talking about?”

Liv flushes, but she’s no less angry. “It has to be one or the other. Either Aaron doesn’t want you to, or you don’t want to.”

“Can’t it just be that I forgot?” Aaron asks, startling both Robert and Liv. 

Robert’s brow furrows. “You mean, you don’t mind?”

There’s a look to Aaron’s face that Robert knows well by now; it’s his _you’re being an idiot_ face and Robert’s ashamed to admit, even to himself, that he sees it a lot. “Of course I don’t mind, muppet. I honestly didn’t think about it. I signed all the paperwork back when we were, you know—”

“—when you didn’t like me,” Liv helpfully supplies, though there’s a downward cast to her mouth. 

“When I was being an idiot, you mean?” Robert says, mostly to the lighten the mood, but also because it’s true. Jealousy isn’t a good look on him, never has been, even more so when the jealousy is because of a _sister_. Not his proudest moment, not by far, but then he hasn’t had a lot of those. 

“Then it just didn’t occur to me that it was something you wanted.” Aaron keeps his voice low, aware of both women still in the vicinity. He’s a painfully private person, even here, but it just makes Robert’s heart hurt with how much he loves him. “You never seemed to be interested with Lachlan.”

“I didn’t love Lachlan,” Robert says, before he can stop himself. Immediately, he feels his cheeks heat up. He can’t look at Aaron, can’t look at _Liv_ , so settles for staring at one of the displays. It’s a misshapen tree without leaves, a display for winter time, with badly cut-out mittens and scarves. 

“You mean it?” Liv asks, voice small. 

Robert forces himself to look at her, to the vulnerability in her eyes, even as she’s steeled herself for whatever she thinks his reply will be. “’Course. I wouldn’t say it otherwise, you know that.”

It’s an echo of something he told Aaron a long time ago. 

“Look,” Robert says, because he’s uncomfortable, because as much as he wants this, he’s not the greatest at revealing how he feels — except, apparently, by accident. “I want this, I just didn’t—”

“You just didn’t think it was what I wanted,” Aaron says, reading Robert correctly. He always does, always _has_. It doesn’t scare Robert like it used to, just makes him more aware of how right it feels to be here with him — with Liv. “Muppet.”

It seems to be his term of endearment for the day. 

“It’s almost five,” Liv says, when the silence drags on too long. She doesn’t say anything else, and Robert tries not to want her to. He can handle it if she doesn’t want him to do this, though her outburst earlier gives him some hope that she does.

Aaron steps forward and grabs the pen. “So. Am I filling this out, or what?”

“You better,” Liv snaps, and Robert lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “You’re too soft. The school need to call someone who keeps us both in line. Duh.”

Robert feels his heart swell with pride at that sentence. His mouth quirks at her meaning, knowing how soft Aaron can be where Liv’s concerned. It’s true that he’s strict _er_ , but Chas wasn’t wrong when she convinced Liv they were both as soft as each other. Liv’s a weak point with Robert, not that he’ll ever admit it out loud. Hard enough admitting it to himself.

“What do you want to be down as?” Aaron asks, and Robert looks over his shoulder, Liv elbowing between them to see the options. 

“Breakfast maker isn’t on there,” Liv says, flashing Robert a grin. “Neither’s prison guard.”

“Oi!” Robert pokes her in the side. “I’ll have you know Aaron’s the jailer here.”

Aaron snorts, though his eyes narrow. To be fair to Aaron, Robert’s more predisposed to keeping Liv in until she’s done all her homework. 

“Soon to be brother-in-law?” Liv quips, looking pointedly at the ring on Aaron’s finger. Aaron’s lips quirk up, the same smile he always gets when someone points it out. 

None of the options seem to fit; Robert isn’t anything, not really, but he doesn’t want to say that, not with the light atmosphere settling over them. He should know better by now, that the two people most likely to see through his lies, through his cover, are standing with him in the hallway.

“Brother, obviously,” Liv says, defiantly keeping her eyes on Robert’s face.

“Obviously,” Aaron echoes, checking the box. 

Robert says nothing, but he knows he’s smiling, his face hurts with it. 

“All done?” Mary asks, when she sees Aaron drop the pen. She takes the sheet, but not before Robert sees the box at the bottom, telling them that Robert’s entitled to the whole package; emergencies, behaviour, reports. 

He’s a little overwhelmed with it, knows that later he’s going to need a drink of something strong. It’s what he wants, feels it settle around his shoulders like something comfortable and well-loved, but it’s a lot all the same. He’s not used to being this responsible for anybody else, he’s barely been responsible for himself, but it’s not something he wants to lose. Not now he has it. 

“Right, you’re all set,” Mary says, with another smile. “Feel free to head in.”

“Ugh,” Liv says, pulling away from them both. “You know this is going to be awful, right?”

“It usually is with you,” Aaron says, grinning. He turns to Robert, his smile shifting into something like concern. “You alright?”

“Fine.” Robert shakes off the lingering doubts. Liv’s waiting expectantly, eyebrows raised like she’s daring him to back out now. Robert’s never been one to turn down a challenge, especially not one he loves as much as Liv. “Let’s see how many teachers you’ve managed to annoy this past term.”

Liv makes another face, but she falls into step next to Robert, letting out a noise of frustration as Robert’s fingers curl into Aaron’s. Aaron squeezes his hand, eyes soft as his smile returns. Happiness is a good look on him, Robert thinks, and leans in for a kiss. 

Aaron reciprocates, touches Robert’s cheek with his free hand, even as Liv’s muttering about _being soft_ right when they’re walking into school, _thanks a lot_ , but Robert doesn’t care. He pulls back, wondering if he looks half as happy as Aaron does. 

From the way Liv’s exasperation and _gross_ turns into a soft smile and gentle elbow to Robert’s side, he guesses maybe he does.

**Author's Note:**

> join me on [tumblr](http://sapphicsugden.tumblr.com) :)


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